GoPro Hints
 

Thought this might be an interesting thread to add to the DIY forum, someone can move if otherwise.

Here is my first attempt at filming underwater, bringing a striper to the boat. This is filmed in 1080P, edited and saved in HD. I think the field of view was medium, should change to wide next time. Thanks Niko for hooking and holding the fish nearby.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y..._Rpstriper.jpg

1. I routinely mount my GoPro "upside down" and there is an image orientation option in the menus. Setting this preference on the camera saves HOURS of imaging flipping on the computer.

2. I bought a telescoping pole ($20 Quikpod QPAK-COMPOD Compod Slim Extendable Handheld Tripod off Amazon) which you attach the camera and use to plunge into the water. I am not necessarily recommending this one there are many from which to choose. If your boat has high gunnels you will definitely want one with a longer extension range than this one.

I also tried to film some pods/schools of sand eels but saw nothing on the video, Note to self: point camera down more, looking up from below at the surface is very uninteresting.:)

that's pretty cool!!

thinking of buying a go pro to be permently mounted on rooftop to cover cockpit. heard that they were comming out with one that has a remote push to start. Anyone know? also any recommendations on where to buy? tks..

A $6.95 tripod mount installed on a busted St. Croix rod. Using it as a pole for end game underwater shots as well as cockpit cam shots from up high...

How did you secure the mount to the pole? Do you get any "bouncing" from high above?

I now try to shoot all my video in inverted (upside down) mode and have that option chosen, it takes forever for a PC to invert those scenes and it can be a nuisance to switch up/down modes before each segment.
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the tripod mount has a 1/4-20 threaded connection. I threaded a 3" stainless stud into the tripod mount and had the busted blank cut back just to fit the stud, then poured epoxy into the tip and then treaded it into the rod and inverted it so the epoxy filled any voids in the tip around the stud. rock solid. (My tackle shop made it up for me!!)

I have not tried video from that position yet. It fits fairly snug though. There is a little play but I have to try it. I mainly did it for underwater near boat shots. I am preparing for the white marlin I plan to catch this summer. :)

That is mainly what I use it for (cockpit cam) You can install a semi-perm mount just about anyplace and remove the camera and leave the mount fairly quickly.

You can get them from their website, amazon, ebay etc....

The remote is out and works. WHat does not work is the wireless streaming. It should be soon though. You will be able to stream live video wireless to cell phone, ipad, etc. (I dount it will work underwater though....:( , now that would be cool!)
http://gopro.com/hd-hero-accessories...-remote-combo/

Jim,

Thanks for the great idea! I had an old Penn pole lying around that should work much better as a monopod than a fishing pole :rotf2: and already had the tripod mount.

I bought 3" 1/4 20 bolt to use as studs. I ground the bottom ~1/2" into a squarish shape to help against turning within the epoxy (over engineering?). I cut the pole just above a wrapped guide to provide extra support from splitting. Drilled the hole with a hand held drill, filled with epoxy and screwed in the stud using the tripod mount. I tried to line up the mount with the reel guides so as I know which general direction the camera will be pointed while submerged. The finished length is about 5 1/2ft.

That'll work! Nice.

I finally got around to trying out my troll pro attachment. I rigged up a Sebile swimmer on a release clip so the lure trailed behind the housing about 5' and then trolled it over the hedge fence bar. Now please bear with me...it has a 32oz trolling weight and hit the bottom as I was letting it out. But once I let it out far enough it came off the bottom. The visibility kinda sucked in the sound and I didn't play with any hue or color editing so it is very green but if you view in full screen you can see the lure and a couple of bluefish hit the lure. I know it is lame but this is the first go.
first troll pro video - YouTube

I normally use it as a cockpit video camera fixed to the pilothouse and that gives a nice wide angle shot of what is happening and kind of looks like this:

The audio gets muffled even with the skeleton door but I ordered a new case that allows me to hook up my external mic and that should be much better

That's great, makes me want to buy one of those live video/TV cams to give real-time feed on what's happening below!
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

The strike in slow mo looked pretty cool,BTW you def did a good job on the home made mount pretty rugged ,looks like the camera did some sea scape grading.

GoPro Wi-fi
 

GoPro finally released the Android ap for controlling the wifi. Got mine yesterday and updating the firmware was much harder than it should have been :fury::wall::smash::fury: but FINALLY got it working and paired with my Android phone.:uhuh: Besides full remote control of the camera, you can get (near) real-time images on the phone. Can't wait to see how fair under water (spec is 3m) the wifi signal sends.

Mr. Sandman looks like a new toy for you on the Nomad....you don't need the gopro remote, there are both Android and iPad/iPhone aps out now.

I'll be picking up the 3 when my brother finally gets his corporate connections up and running. I'll add some of my suggestions when that happens. I have owned all releases of the camera since it went HD. Great toy and I'm hoping the new camera performs better in low light.

PRBuzz,

My Christmas list includes a second camera. I have my doubts it will give you a live signal 10' underwater but may as well try it. A live feed to a cockpit mounted ipad will be insane!

My quadcopter has a cam mount

What kind of range do those quadcopers have???

on 2.4, standard r/c about 800 feet

My daughter has the GoPro and the wifi does not work once the camera is put in the water. She was very disappointed as I sure you guys will be when you try it.

Mike

When you attach various accessories to the back of the GoPro, such as the battery pak, LCD screen or Wi-Fi, then try to put into either the head or chest harness the camera will not lie flat and sits at about a 30deg angle. :smash: Not really user friendly. :wall:

I just purchased the helmet mount and this solves the issue by pushing the camera farther out and permitting a wide variety of adjustments. Only $8 :uhuh: Might be a little clumsy/awkward but sure I can get used to it.

the wifi back-pack was a band aid. I think the new one has it built in.

Yes it was a band aide for Hero/Hero2, new Hero3 has 3 versions: White $199, Silver $299 and Black $399 all with built-in wi-fi.

The Hero3 seems to be a ground up re-design of the camera including the flat field lens. Still accepts LCD and battery paks!

Just got my hero3 white up and working with the iPhone app
Looks pretty sweet, should be fun
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

So ya, you could totally spy on the world with this thing. Camera works up to 600' from the iPhone and shows real time video on the phone. Just a slight delay. Don't have to be recording either. Just on standby
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Send it down below a boat... tell me how deep it goes :)

Also, did they get rid of the fish eye distortion in the video?

Ordering mine by month's end
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I have the fisheye lense but that's the one I wanted anyways. Most of the time it will be mounted up in the tower pointing down
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GoPro dredge cam unit: trollpro.com

Think it's $150 (GoPro not included)

DIY GoPro Dredge
 

Making my dredge! I decided to go with thinner walled NDS plastic (drain) pipe vs. standard PVC. Any thoughts why I should NOT use this? I reinforced the cap with a piece of starboard so the eye bolt doesn't rip out the cap. Initial length overall about 16". Toughest part is going to be securely mounting the GoPro. Shown is the standard housing but I do have the Underwater Housing on order. So far excluding the $50 for the housing, got $25 for all the parts. BTW: I have 8' of 4" NDS pipe leftover if anyone interested in building one of these.

Looking good, waiting till spring to put it in the water?
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Buzz... should you add a weighted keel on it to ensure it remains in the proper orientation?